1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and file structure for producing fast and consistent visual medium materials. In particular, a hosted applications server is used to host Prepress applications. One such Prepress apparatus is used to wash graphical files before they are incorporated into a consistent Print Ready File (PRF) structure. Washing is done to ensure that Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) graphics are structured in a consistent format.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The existing methods of procuring printed business materials are characterized by cumbersome and labor-intensive procedures. These procedures carry with them certain inefficiencies and are often prone to error. For the majority of small to medium sized printers, the printing of business cards, stationery, and the like, entails (at a minimum) a time-consuming series of steps, which generally must be repeated every time a new order is placed.
The present system provides for the automated creation of a PRF, as described in the incorporated references. Unlike prior art systems, this PRF has been configured to contain all the necessary information for printing a particular job. Once created, the PRF can be sent to many different vendors, over a variety of different mediums, and can be used to produce a consistent print job result each time.
The consistent processing of the file is also due, in part, to the treatment of the various jobs coming into the system. In prior systems, jobs were sent to a server (or group of servers) and processed according to a certain priority queue. Often the priority queue proved to be inadequate to properly distribute the jobs among the various servers. A more centralized system for handling many different client tasks is therefore needed, with effective load balancing provided between the various servers.
One such centralized task, described in more detail herein, is color washing of the EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) files. Postscript is a programming language that describes the appearance of a printed page. It was developed by Adobe in 1985 and has become an industry standard for printing and imaging. All major printer manufacturers make printers that contain or can be loaded with Postscript software. Such software also runs on all major operating system platforms. A Postscript file can typically be identified by its “.ps” suffix. Postscript describes the text and graphic elements on a page to a black-and-white or color printer or other output device, such as a slide recorder, imagesetter, or screen display. Postscript handles industry-standard, scalable typefaces in the Type 1 and TrueType formats. Users can convert Postscript files to the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) using (for instance) the Adobe Distiller product. PDF files present the document's printed appearance on a display screen. Encapsulation is the inclusion within the file of all the resources needed for the file to be printed (or displayed). Other such centralized tasks might include creation, trapping, color separation, and imposition of Print Ready Files.
A set of business logic (or the like) can therefore be applied to a print job, in that the setup associated with such processes can be accomplished at the front-end by the user, when the user specifies the print job. The centralized server can thereafter take all of the setup data and generate a completed print job, or in other words, a complete PRF for use by a print vendor.
As described in the incorporated references, a PRF is comprised of a combination of graphical, text, and line elements. The graphical elements typically include EPS files. A number of available software tools can be used by a human operator to create, review, and edit EPS files. However, EPS files that ultimately come out of such software and Graphic Art products such as Illustrator, Quark, Pagemaker, or Photoshop all have certain differences, or eccentricities, which are difficult to account for and process on a consistent basis. Such differences might include the setting of parameters for fonts (i.e. leading, size, kerning), linescreen, angle, transfer functions (and other device specific PostScript operators), scaling of graphics, addition of spot colors, and so forth.
Still another resulting practice in creating files involves embedding EPS files within EPS files (and so forth), wherein such files are eventually included in the overall PRF. Such multi-layering of files can produce a tangled series of information, which can prove to be difficult to process when trying to parse color information (and the like) from the EPS file.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a prior art block diagram is shown of certain representative steps 100 which might be used by an human operator (or user) to create an EPS file. In step 102, the user creates and/or imports graphical elements into a Graphic Art application. In step 104, the user sets various parameters associated with the file, as per the particular interface associated with the Graphic Art application. The parameters might include information such as type, fonts, leading, scaling, and color separation. In step 106, the user outputs the EPS file using the Graphic Art program, which is often in a proprietary format. The prior art does not ensure referential integrity or consistent settings for color in such files. Software systems developed by different companies do not typically have a shared data structure for reference by the different applications.
The prior art does include Preflight checking and the like. Such Preflight checking analyzes and detects problems in EPS files. However, such Preflight checking methods do nothing to fix (or standardize) the EPS file results.
Accordingly, a solution is needed which will normalize the information used to produce an EPS file. In other words, the EPS file should be “washed.” This will allow the various applications used to process a graphical file that will run in an automated environment wherein the color settings are set as policies, and can be managed, updated, and tested automatically. The policies can be stored in a central database. The washing process removes problems and anomalies, and creates an EPS file that can be commonly shared in known format. The format might include PostScript Level 1 code, with removal of incompatible operators, and a PostScript header that is consistent between various files.